Work projects & skills

About

During my career I've built, rebuilt, taught, connected, pitched and fixed. I've written software, designed networks, bolted things together, and worked with rocket scientists.

Skills

My strongest skills?

Analyzing - how does this work, why?
Convincing - strategy, stories, proof points, engaging experiences
Engineering - finding & fixing problems (see my favorite quote)
Explaining - teaching, writing, digital media, simplifying, presenting, demos
Innovating - creativity, ideas, concepts, trends, opportunities, “what if"
Internet - telecom, networks, computers, software, architecture
Making - mechanical, prototypes, audio, video, software, websites, fixing, manufacturing
Questions - conversations, interviews, uncovering, paraphrasing
Teams - building, rebuilding, budgets, strategies, leadership, execution
Technology - most everything except life sciences

Projects

All
Analyzing
Convincing
Explaining
Innovating
Internet
Making
Questions
Teams
Engineering
software
video
websites

Certificates & training

Recently I was asked to supply a list of professional/training certifications. When I looked back in my file drawers I was surprised to more than I remembered. Guess it all started with my Engineer in Training (EIT) certificate from the Iowa State Board of Examiners.

dougfoster.me – website

WordPress website for sharing personal stories about life & work, photos, and work projects. Built with Beaver Builder theme & plugins, the site includes custom PHP code, All in One SEO, Clicky analytics, iThemes Security Pro, Slider revolution, and PODS for custom post types (CPT) & extended fields.

Line Defender – product demo video

Two minute video demonstrates how Line Defender™ easily prevents monofilament fishing line from snarling the propellor & motor shaft of electric rolling motors. Shot with DSLR & iPhone cameras, fishing boat, trolling motor, and a 60 gallon aquarium in front of a chroma-key backdrop.

Presentations & webinars

Technical & non-technical public speaking opportunities with both small and large audiences. Events include WordCamp, indieConf, interOp, Macworld, and Cisco.

Wake Tech – web technologies

Instructor for HTML5 & CSS3, JavaScript, PHP & MySQL, WordPress, and Web Design classes (online, seated, and hybrid) at Wake Tech Community College. Create lectures, assignments, projects, grading, & guest speakers; Blackboard Learning Management System for course content; EPIC Online Teaching Certification.

LIPM – FOCUS integrated marketing software

Print/digital marketing campaign platform. Engine is Drip ECRM cloud service, WordPress for dashboard and landing pages, custom JS/PHP manages private URLs (pURLs) & QR codes; Calendly, Gyft, & Drip integrated via REST APIs.

LIPM – website & marketing

Marketing support for short-run print shop. Rebuilt WordPress website, web analytics, lots of pages & posts, write/edit copy, photography, videos, SEO, custom JS/PHP/REST API software; email marketing to increase traffic.

Touchstone 3D – website

WordPress website promoting product innovation & prototyping services. FooGallery plugin with Beaver Builder theme for easy to maintain, highly visual, page structure. iThemes Security Pro with Two Factor Authentication, All in One SEO, Clicky analytics, and Gravity Forms.

ChargeGuardZ – sales development plan

Sales development plan for iPhone cable protector from startup Zaytoun Industries. Story-based methodology covers value, markets, differentiation, branding, pricing, competitors, and distribution strategies; go-to-market section defines priorities and activities.

LIPM – job status tracking

WordPress app to track limited-run post card mailings. Gravity Forms, Gravity View, custom JS/PHP; Members & Login Redirect plugins allow clients & staff access to protected pages; email notification when jobs are updated.

AFS Photography – website

WordPress website promoting photography services; extensive blog with backstories and favorite photos. Beaver Builder theme, content copy protection, Slider Revolution plugin for photo/testimonial sliders, Instagram slider, iThemes Security Pro with Two Factor Authentication, All in One SEO, Clicky analytics.

Touchstone 3D – Order Management System

Proof-of-concept challenge to select a new tool for rebuilding company’s Order Management System. OMS was difficult to maintain and written in Java by an intern no longer with the company. ScriptCase Rapid Application Development platform quickly built the test case, proved flexible & easy to use, and was selected.

LIPM – HP Wall Art video

Two minute video showing the creation and installation of an in-house designed, ceiling to floor, HP Wall Art display. iPhone & DSLR cameras shot hundreds of stills and hours of video; Telestream ScreenFlow & Adobe Creative Suite rendered the final time-compressed version.

LIPM – WUNC success story

Success story describing how Laser Image Printing & Marketing implemented a creative, direct mail campaign to help solve WUNC public radio’s challenge with sustaining supporters. In-person interviews were recorded and edited; the goal was to use both copy & audio to tell the story on Laser Image’s website.

Fuentek – NASA technical marketing

Intellectual Property (IP) marketing and licensing for NASA. Reviewed patents for marketability, screened/assessed technology for licensing, interviewed subject matter experts, award applications, market trends, soliciting licensees, pre-license negotiations. Specialty areas: mechanical, telecommunications, and manufacturing.

Touchstone 3D – websites

Multiple websites, first created with design tools such as Adobe Dreamweaver and Apple iWeb, later evolved to WordPress. Promoting the company’s product innovation & prototyping services, Touchstone3D continues to contract with Convinsys for all web based projects.

PinpointRG – NCHFA success story

Story describing how Pinpoint Resource Group helped the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency (NCHFA) implement a VMWare based business continuity strategy. In-person interviews were recorded and edited; the goal was to use both copy & audio to tell the story on Pinpoint RG’s website.

Fit to View – sales development plan

Sales development plan for patented mortician’s product from startup Fit to View. Story-based methodology covers value, markets, differentiation, branding, pricing, competitors, and distribution strategies; go-to-market section defines priorities and activities.

Cisco – sales training

Three, one-hour training classes for Cisco Product Marketing group: Sales strategy, How stories help sell, & Presenting tips & best practices. Persuasive, customer centric sales approach - Convince Me™ - explained the power of storytelling in sales & marketing, and how conversational presenting can increase sales opportunities.

Fuentek – NASA EBF3

Fifteen minute video explaining NASA’s Electron Beam Free Form Fabrication (EBF3) technology. Created by interviewing co-creator over Skype and adding relevant still images. Facilitated exploratory licensing between NASA and Stratasys, Inc.

eNC – netcasting manual & classes

Manual with training class on how to create podcasts and webcasts. Delivered to entrepreneurs & small business owners at four of the rural North Carolina Business & Technology Development Centers. Funded by the North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center under a grant from the Kellogg Foundation.

Cisco Press – technical editing

Technical reviewer for Cisco Networking Simplified books from Cisco Press. Reviewed drafts, consulted with authors and editor to confirm topics were presented with technical accuracy, easy to understand, and stayed in context with the chapter focus.

ECU – VoIP business plan

Business plan for East Carolina University to migrate voice services from a Nortel Class 5 telephone switch to Cisco’s Unified Communications (UC) products. Requested by the CIO, the three year $5.89m migration identified unrecognized operational risk in detail and outlined mitigation strategies. The plan was enthusiastically adopted.

Cisco – Cisco Network Academy

Internal success story describing how students from Athens Drive High School installed Cisco IP phones and voicemail at a mega church. Students were taught basic IP Telephony in their Network Academy classroom, then successfully installed a real-world, integrated voice & data network.

Cisco – AVVID demo room & kits

Portable kits and training room demonstrated Cisco Unified Communications (UC) solutions. Telecommunication managers were skeptical of Voice over IP (aka UC) technology; the kits and demo room offered opportunities for hands-on evaluation.

Cisco – Interpath P.O.C.

Proof-of-concept network for delivering next generation high-speed voice, video, and data services. Designed for Internet Service Provider (ISP) Interpath and tested at Cisco’s San Jose CPOC lab, the SONET OC-3/12 fiber connections and ATM core/edge switches transported both legacy T-carrier and advanced packet services.

CP&L – DCAP

Data Communications Architecture Project (DCAP) provided a vision and plan to overhaul Carolina Power & Light’s data network. A high speed, switched Ethernet, TCP/IP over SONET fiber network replaced the slow & unreliable Token Ring/Banyan Vines network.

Swift Creek Elementary – technology plan

School-wide data network - including fiber connections to outside trailers and a T1 connection to the Internet - implemented at Swift Creek Elementary. Parents donated material and labor to re-cable the campus; PTA donated money for computer labs and classroom computers, Time Warner donated a T1 Internet connection.

Alcatel – Engineering Systems

Plan to rebuild computing environment & IT group supporting Product Engineering for Alcatel Network Systems (ANS). Supported by ANS CIO & CFO, new staff was hired, networks rebuilt, engineering workstations replaced, and a new data center with a state-of-the-art server architecture installed.

Team CP – Products Division, TeamNet

Plans to start a new Products/Systems Integration group at Team Connecting Point, also implement company intranet with Internet connection. Acquired first IBM reseller authorization for RS6000 Unix line of RISC based workstations & servers.

John Deere – Wide area Integrated Network (WIN)

Global, multi-protocol network connecting major John Deere facilities and the early public Internet. IBM mainframes, mini-computers, engineering CAD/CAM workstations, and factory-floor machines accessed the network using TCP/IP; IMS & DB2 corporate data repositories were extended with local Oracle databases.

MacVet – veterinary software

Veterinary clinic management system, included multi-location inventory management, heard health reminders, and full service/procedure invoicing. Written in a 4GL database language, MacVet ran on a local network of IBM PC and/or Apple Macintosh computers.

ISU – Freshman Engineering competition

Multi-media presentation with live demonstrations; won first place in Fall Freshman Engineering competition at Iowa State University. Automobile theft of CB radios was a major problem; our team designed a series of ready to commercialize, car alarm systems.

Hawkeye Science Fair – Rolamite

Presentation & exhibit at the 1969 Hawkeye Science Fair explaining rolamite technology. Recently patented and described in a NASA Tech Brief, rolamite consisted of only four components (two rollers, a tension band, and a rectangular enclosure) and was hailed as a new, simple machine on par with the lever, fulcrum, and wheel.